


Thunderstruck

by Lakritzwolf



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-03 00:20:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12737253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakritzwolf/pseuds/Lakritzwolf
Summary: “If you were here, I’d hug you.”And then they didn't hug. They should have. So I made them do it. I also believe Thor and his lightning are linked through emotions which makes things... interesting.





	Thunderstruck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chelidona (Hobbity)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobbity/gifts).



> This is definitely not a new ship. Most definitely not. I watched Ragnarok because Thor Is Cool. This is not a new fandom. Just a present for a dear friend. Not a new ship. Nuh-uh.

“If you were here, I’d hug you.”

Loki catches the piece of metal Thor just threw with a half-smile.

“I am here.”

There is a flicker in his eyes, for a split-second, of doubt, of confusion, of the remains of broken trust. Or it is a trick of the light. There is no way of telling.

Then Thor is at his side, and for a moment, he hesitates. He turns away. Then he turns around again.

And envelopes Loki in a fierce, big hug.

Loki tenses, for a moment it looks as if he is about to break free, or maybe even transform into something nasty to escape that grip, but then a small, if hesitant, smile grows on his face.

“Brother...” Thor mutters into Loki’s raven-dark hair.  
“Brother?”  
“Yes, brother.” Thor leans back without letting go. “Bit annoying at times...”  
“Annoying.” Loki cocks one eyebrow.  
“Obnoxious even.”  
“Obnoxious.”  
“And sometimes outright irritating,” Thor continues with a bright smile. “But always my brother.”

“By adoption,” Loki replies, the smile still there but not reaching his eyes; his lips are a narrow line.

“It never mattered.” Thor’s smile is gone now, there is a severity in his voice that is rare for him. “You’re my brother. Always were, always will be. Who cares about blood.”  
Loki raises both eyebrows. “Or trust.”  
“You’re the god of trickery.” Thor is grinning again. “If there’s one thing I can trust it’s the fact that I can’t trust you.”

“Technically,” Loki says tersely, “I am not a god at all.”  
“But if you were a god, you would be the god of trickery.”

Loki tries to cross his arms but he can’t because Thor is still holding him.

“Cocky god of trickery,” Thor says, grinning like a boy.  
Loki sighs and rolls his eyes.  
“Or tricky god of-”  
“If you say cocks I am going to turn yours into something a water slug would run away from screaming, if it could run.”

Thor snorts out a chuckle. “I am afraid.”  
“No, you’re not,” Loki replies with a slightly exasperated chuckle of his own.

Then he sighs and looks at the ceiling for a moment, unable to free himself from Thor’s grip. Or unwilling, maybe. He could turn into a snake. He obviously chooses not to. 

“Would you mind letting me go?”

His smile dimming a bit, Thor lets go, but rests his hands on Loki’s shoulders. 

“Sometimes I wish I could really trust you,” he says in a low voice.  
Loki breathes out a mirthless chuckle. “We’ve been over this.”

Thor seems to want to say something else but closes his mouth again. 

And then it happens. 

From his fingers, a few thin tendrils of lightning seep out and crawl across Loki’s shoulders. Just a few threads, hardly thicker than hairs, but they writhe and crawl across his shoulders and up his neck. 

Loki looks mortified. “Stop that.”  
“I am not doing anything,” Thor replies, looking equally mortified.  
“If you weren’t, I wouldn’t have lightning creeping around my ears.”  
“But I didn’t do anything!”

Thor lets go and steps back. The threads of lightning remain there, on Loki’s neck and shoulder, for a few moments only before they fade. Loki looks at Thor, lowering his eyelids, but Thor stares at his hands. Tiny threads of lightning wind around his fingers, flickering, moving, changing, but never gone. They dim and seem to be reluctant to go, but eventually they vanish back into Thor’s skin. 

Loki crosses his arms. “Now what was that about?”  
“I have no idea,” Thor replies, still staring at his hands.  
“I do have the feeling that you know,” Loki says, a small smirk on his face. “I am very good at telling when someone lies.”

Thor looks up, and his remaining eye is wreathed in pale silver for the fraction of a second. Loki steps back again, his eyes wandering up and down Thor’s body. 

“Ah, I see.” His smile is almost bitter. “That’s the way it is. I mean, it’s not as if I don’t understand.” His voice is dripping with sarcasm. “But even the mighty Thor can’t possibly-”  
“Possibly what?” Thor closes the distance between them with a single step. “What do you think I will do? Why would I hurt you? Now, after what we’ve just been through together?”

Thor reaches out again, but the moment he touches Loki’s shoulder, the tiny tendrils of lightning are back, slide across Loki’s skin and into his hair. A few of the black strands shift as if in an unseen wind. 

They are standing close to each other again, very close, and when their eyes meet, more by chance than by intention, a few silver sparks fly from the tips of Thor’s fingers. Loki flinches but his eyes widen as they touch his skin. Thor, realizing what just happened, jumps back and curls his hands into fists.

“Damn, I’m sorry!” He stares at his hands, and up at Loki. “I didn’t… I don’t know what is happening! I don’t want to hurt you!”  
“It…” Loki touches his neck, where one of the sparks has hit him. “It didn’t exactly hurt…” He looks as confused as Thor does. 

Suddenly Thor’s eyes widen almost comically wide. He looks absolutely mortified as he steps back. 

“I’m sorry,” he mutters and spins around on his heel. The door slams shut behind him.

Loki remains there, his fingers on the side of his neck. He keeps staring at the door for a long time before his hands sinks down, and he turns around to walk away from the door as fast as possible without giving away that he is running.

* * *

Thor is pacing around in his room, his “royal quarters”. He looks into the mirror and touches the eye patch. 

A knock from the door tears him out of whatever pit his thoughts have wandered into and he opens the door. Loki smiles, his hands crossed behind his back.

Thor frowns in confusion. “What do you want?”  
“I’m not quite sure,” Loki replies. “But I have the nagging feeling that we’re not done.”  
“Done with what?” Thor steps aside to let him in, and closes the door behind him. 

Then he crosses his arms and he and Loki look at each other for a moment. 

“That… sparkly thing,” Loki begins. “I’ve seen you do that fighting Hela and her brood. Now, don’t get me wrong,” he chuckles, that annoying chuckle only he is able to produce, “I understand why you might be angry with me, or would have been… but why now? Why today? I know I’m not innocent, far from it. But what did I do?”

“Nothing,” Thor says after a moment, his voice low. “I don’t know why this is happening.”

There it is again, his fingertips are coated in a faint, silver glow. 

Loki steps closer, his mouth a narrow line. 

“If it is not anger, then what is it that you’re feeling? Quite obviously, this thing is tied to your emotions so… you might want to practise keeping that in check.”  
“You’re right,” Thor mutters in reply. “I just don’t know how.”

Loki steps closer again, and suddenly they are back, those tiny tendrils of lightning.

“Quite obviously, strong emotions.” Loki lowers his voice. 

Threads of flickering white crawl up his arms. He steps closer yet, and Thor holds his ground. Their eyes locked to each others, they stand so close now their bodies are almost touching. Almost, not quite, but tendrils of lightning are outlining Thor’s body now, and they reach out like fingers, strands of white silk shifting in a breeze. One of the larger tendrils touches the side of Loki’s neck and he closes his eyes for a moment with a sharp inhale. 

“I’m sorry,” Thor whispers. “Did that hurt?”  
“No.” Loki opens his eyes again. 

The air between them, as little as it is, begins to crackle. Loki’s hair shifts and stirs, and more threads of silk-fine lightning weave into the dark strands, almost making them look alive. 

Then Loki narrows his eyes, and one corner of his mouth twitches. 

“You could say the atmosphere is... charged,” he says. 

Thor doesn’t say anything. 

“How long has this been going on?” Loki tilts his head to one side. “Brother, right? Keep telling yourself that.”

Thor still doesn’t say anything. He is gritting his teeth, and his fingertips are glowing. 

Loki shakes his head, but the sneer on his face looks watery; fake, somehow. “Why now? You had plenty of chances.” He pauses. “You don’t want this. I understand. And I can see that if it weren’t for you new... powers... then I still wouldn’t know.”  
“No,” Thor replies. “You wouldn’t.”  
“And why not?” Loki crosses his arms. “Are you afraid I would try to use you? Or are you afraid I wouldn’t be sincere?” He chuckles. “You don’t trust me, I understand. I mean, I am Loki, after all.”

Thor lowers his head while simultaneously shaking it. “I don’t know what I fear,” he says in a low and yet strangely hard voice before looking up again. “Ever since I learned that you’re not my brother I... I hated father for lying to us. Especially for lying to you. I never wanted you to hurt.”  
“Hurt?” Loki emits a derisive chuckle. “Hurt? Me? I wasn’t hurt.” His grin vanishes in the blink of an eye. “I was furious.”

Now it is Thor who chuckles, it is accompanied by a sad smile. “Oh, you did hurt. I knew you too well. But then... then I felt I didn’t know you at all anymore. I mean...” He sighs. “Knowing that you’re not my brother in blood didn’t change how I felt about you. This was... it was before. It had been for a long time. But then you changed, and I didn’t know what to feel anymore.”  
“Well.” Loki steps back again. “Certain parts of you seem to know perfectly well.”

Thor grits his teeth and a few small sparks fly from his fingers. Loki swallows and takes another step back. 

“Yes,” Thor says darkly. “Yes, that is what I want. But it is not the only thing I want, and it is more than you are able... or even willing to give.”  
“Ah, Thor...” Loki smiles, a tight-lipped smile that sits askew in his face which is taut and pale. “All the time, it is all or nothing for you. Always was, always will be.”

This time Thor doesn’t reply, and the sparks dim and fade. 

“Always, it was always you,” Loki says, and his voice turns bitter. “There’s a reason you lost your hammer for the first time, you know.”  
“I know.” Thor doesn’t meet his eyes.  
“But even though you regained it, it was still about you.” Loki crosses his arms even tighter. “The golden prince, the successor to the throne... All hail Thor the mighty! And there I was, an ugly little appendix to that noble family by nothing but pity!”

Loki takes a deep breath and shakes his head.

“No one ever asked me what I wanted, brother of mine. And so I went and took it, or tried to, and you know what? It was still you who took it away from me.”  
“You wanted power,” Thor replies. “I understand, but-”  
“No.” Loki shakes his head. “No you don’t understand! You don’t understand because you always had what I knew I could never gain!”

Loki uncrosses his arms and thrusts an accusing forefinger at Thor who watches him with an unmoving face.

“Father’s approval, mother’s affection, the people’s admiration, you had it all! I knew I couldn’t get one of the former, but I had the latter, in the palm of my hand, a few times, and you always took it! I tried to get what I wanted, tried what I could to keep it, but you always took it!”  
“I couldn’t let you tyrannise earth!”  
“No, you couldn’t,” Loki sneers. “The noble warrior, of course you couldn’t. And you couldn’t let me have Asgard-”  
“You wanted to rule Asgard but it was never yours! And I won’t let you-”  
“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Loki interrupts him icily, “Asgard doesn’t exist anymore. Everything I could ever draw power from doesn’t exist anymore! Your powers are your birthright! Mine is being born a bastard child in your shadow! You are king of Asgard now, and I am nothing!”

“You’re still my brother,” Thor says after a moment.  
Loki snorts and shakes his head. “Please. If I was really your brother you wouldn’t get all... sparkly... when I come near you.”

Thor looks stricken, he stares at Loki with parted lips. 

“So, maybe I am your brother, or whatever this makes me,” Loki continues. “And I will never be more, because you don’t trust me, and I have only myself to blame. Or maybe you think that right now, I am plotting against you as I speak, because I might have plans to displace you and put me in your place? I am the double-crosser, the trickster, so maybe I am trying to make you think that because I talk like this I have to have an ulterior motive?”

Shaking his head, Thor takes a step forward. “Loki...”

“It doesn’t matter what I want, does it?” Loki takes another step back. “No one will ever believe anything I say because abusing trust is what I do.”  
“But you...” Thor shakes his head again  
“I know. I know!” Loki exhales hard through gritted teeth. “But after I fought Hela at your side, after I awoke Surtur to destroy the only home we both have ever known to stop her when I could have ruled at her side, how can you still not trust me?”

Thor stares at him, as if chiselled from stone. “Why would you so desperately want me to trust you?”  
“Is that really so hard to understand?”

There is a moment of heavy silence, then Loki spins around and heads for the door. 

Thor catches up with him just as he reaches it. 

“Loki,” he says in a low voice.

Loki squares his shoulders and turns around. 

“I’m sorry.”  
“What for?” Loki’s voice is cold, but there is a deep-seated pain in his eyes, unclouded, unmasked, the trickster who has dropped the last of his masks stares at Thor with a strange hunger in his eyes, and a wariness that fits ill with the stony facial expression he wears.

“Everything,” Thor says softly and steps closer. 

The sparks are back, a few tendrils of lightning curl around his arms and fingers, and then he lifts a hand and touches Loki’s cheek. 

The air between them crackles as sparks flit from Thor’s hands and fingers, and Loki stands still as a stone as the threads of lightning crawl into his hair and wander across his face like stray hairs in the wind. Delicate tendrils of lightning arch between the two, and Thor’s whole body is enveloped in a fine webbing of light that looks like a shimmering, living cobweb. 

They are so close now their bodies are almost touching, again; Thor’s hand is still resting on Loki’s cheek, and the gossamer of lightning soundlessly expands to envelop Loki as well. Lightning crawls across his body, and whenever one of those veins of light touches his skin he closes his eyes with a soft inhale. 

Their faces are so close now, their breath grazing each other’s lips, and the aura of lightning intensifies; arches of lightning shoot between their bodies and wind around them like vines trying to tie them together. 

Their lips touch, and silver sparks burst forth from the fingertips that bury into Loki’s hair. 

But all those flashes of lightning and all those sparks are soundless, not a single crack or hiss disturbs the silence that surrounds the two, the only sounds their heavy breaths. They have their arms around each other now as they kiss, and both Thor’s and Loki’s bodies and limbs are encased in restless threads of light. 

The lightning continues to dance around them even as they part; it intensifies as the first, hesitant move is made to remove the first item of clothing. 

Now it is audible, the rustling of cloth and armour cannot drown out the hissing and crackling of lightning; it pulses around them, the arches of light growing and almost solidifying as more skin is laid bare. 

Sparks and streaks of light burst from the netting of lightning surrounding the two bodies as limbs entwine, skin slides on skin, and the crackling and hissing mingles with moans and heavy breaths cut short by hungry kisses every other heartbeat. Hands roam naked skin wherever they can reach, interspersed by cautious, inquisitive touches. Lips trail across the skin where fingers have explored before, and lightning crackles around them in bursts of sparks.

* * *

On the bridge, the Valkyrie and Heimdall are discussing their course when it happens; a massive peal of thunder rocks the whole ship and the lights flicker for a moment. 

“Odin’s balls!” Valkyries aren’t known for well-mannered speech. “What was that?”

Heimdall takes a deep breath, and shaking his head he covers his eyes with his hand. 

“Heimdall? What was that?”  
“That was Thor,” Heimdall replies slowly and drags his hand down his face.  
“Thor?” The Valkyrie has her hand on her sword. “Where is he?”  
“In his quarters,” is the answer, Heimdall’s voice heavy in almost comical despair.

The Valkyrie is on her way to the door as Heimdall speaks again. 

“He is not alone.”  
She spins around, confusion on her face. Then her eyes widen. “Oh.”  
“Indeed.”  
“Well.” She sheathes her sword again. “He really needs to learn how to control this.”  
“For all our sakes,” Heimdall says and closes his eyes.

* * *

Loki looks very pleased with himself as he watches the lightning dissipate around Thor’s limp and heavy body. 

“Give me a moment,” Thor whispers hoarsely. “I’m not going to fall asleep on you.”  
“I am not going anywhere anytime soon,” Loki replies in a silky voice, almost a purr, as he lets his hand wander down Thor’s chest. 

Thor smiles without opening his eyes. 

There is no thunder of course, even if there are a lot of soundless sparks. Thor looks as pleased with himself as Loki had been earlier, and he falls back into the pillows in the knowledge of a job well done.

One arm under his head Thor looks at the ceiling with a smile. At his side, Loki gets comfortable, one arm draped across Thor’s broad and muscular chest. 

“Anything like you expected?” Thor asks after a while of silence.

Loki doesn’t reply. 

Craning his neck Thor looks down, and sighs with a smile so warm and affectionate it makes his eyes shimmer. His head bedded on Thor’s shoulder Loki has fallen asleep. 

“I guess it was even better than expected,” Thor says with a chuckle, gets comfortable and closes his eyes as well.


End file.
